The city is busy, the shops are busy, I am busy. The typical pre-holidays rush has started and - eventhough it's stressful at times - to me it is more exciting than anything else.
This weekend I'm celebrating Sinterklaas with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend. Sinterklaas is an important celebration in the Netherlands. That is when the Dutch children's 'Santa Claus' comes to bring the presents they don't get at x-mas! I once again ripped some explanative text of another website and adapted it for my own personal use (and your 'Dutch education'!):
In the fourth century AD St. Nicholas (in Dutch called Sinterklaas or Sint Nicolaas; in German called Sankt Nikolaus) was the bishop of Myra, which is now situated in Turkey. According to the legend, he saved his town from starvation. He is also said to have revived three dead children, and to have offered gifts of dowries to poor girls. Some sources say that he died on the sixth of December in 343. In 1087 his relics were taken to Bari in Italy. It is unclear why, according to the Dutch tradition, he comes from Spain. Possibly it has something to do with the fact that St. Nicholas was the patron of sailors. In the 17th century Holland was famous for its navigation. Maybe by contact with Spanish sailors this myth began. It could also explain why St. Nicholas has Zwarte (black) Pieten to help him because the Moors dominated Spain for several hundreds of years. (Another more popular explanation for Zwarte Piet being black is that he has come down the chimneys so often that he can't wash the dirt off.) His legendary gifts of dowries to poor girls led to the custom of giving gifts to children on the eve of his feast day, 6 December. The companions of St. Nicholas (in Germany and Austria they are called Knecht Ruprecht or Krampus) show the victory over evil. Together with his Pieten he visits children to punish the evil ones and to reward the good ones. The worst punishment is to be taken to Spain in Zwarte Piet his bag out of which the good children get the sweets (called pepernoten, taai-taai, and schuimpjes) and presents. A less radical punishment is to get the roede (rod) instead of presents. Nowadays there are not much evil children any more...
A few weeks before his name day St. Nicholas comes to the Netherlands on his steamer with all his Pieten and the presents which they prepared in Spain during the year. This event can be seen on Dutch television. From his arrival in the Netherlands till his name day the children can put their shoes in front of the fireplace. During the night St. Nicholas visits all the houses by travelling over the roofs on his horse, traditionally a white/grey (called Schimmel in Dutch), and Zwarte Piet enters the houses through the chimney to put little presents in the children's shoes. Sometimes the children put straw, carrots and water near the shoe for the horse.
On the eve of his feast day St. Nicholas visits all children. After knocking on the door he gives them a bag full of presents (if they were good children). Early in the morning of 6 December, when he has visited everyone, he leaves and goes back silently to Spain, to come back next year.
Of course this event is different for adults, who don’t need the secrecy of the bag with presents deposited in the house anymore. Still, adults also celebrate Sinterklaas. A couple of weeks before they'll come together to celebrate, they put the names of all people celebrating together in a hat. Then everyone takes a piece of paper with the name on it from the hat, but does not disclose whose name he or she has taken from the hat. The name indicates whom to buy a present for. The present usually comes with a Sinterklaas poem that is written by the giver. The poem describes, in a funny way, what good or bad things the receiver has done that year. Some families also hide the present in a surprise, a homemade funny object connected with the present in which the present itself is hidden.
There are special children songs related to this festive day, which are of course played in the shops and at home. During the Sinterklaas period one eats spicy ginger speculaas or pepernoten, mild anise taai-taai in fancy doll shapes, sugar candy, fancy fruit slices or rich almond marzipan, and chocolate letters (mostly you get only the first letter of your first name). The traditional Sinterklaas drinks are Bisschopswijn (mulled wine) and hot chocolate for the children.
After this
Sinterklaas weekend, my next week will be filled with some work in Belgium and appointments of the 'let's-meet-before-we-leave-the-country-for-the-holidays' kind. There will be a
Club Cranium! night with Dutch seasonal food at my place, Indonesian food in Amsterdam with colleagues I&A, and my beloved 11-year old 'step-sis' will come for a 'young-lady-sleep-over' during the weekend. I hope to somehow keep up blogging on all this (somewhere between work-outs at the gym, photography class, house hold chores?!).
In the meanwhile I'm trying to fulfill upcoming holiday/end of the year duties while at work I'm steaming towards a major project deadline. Apart from juggling all mentioned above in a planning that does also include sleep, this deadline is my biggest challenge at the moment. One year ago I did not know anything about biomethane production - let alone biomethane business - and soon I am to deliver a manual explaining decision makers what the advantages, challenges, complications and implications of biomethane production, use and business in their municipality or region are... Go figure what a long way I have come in one year (yes, my research-fetish side finds this extremely exciting!)... Anyway, on the 15th of December the document goes out to the project partners for their approval, and then - in January - off to the EU experts it goes. Wow! Go go go! :)
Source of the pictures: Dutch Embassy in Canada.
